OTTAWA COUNTY, MI -- Ottawa County is taking the blame for an error that temporarily left three Democrats running for County Commission off sample ballots available to voters through the Michigan Secretary of State.

Justin Roebuck, the county’s elections coordinator, said the error was unintentional. The county uploads candidate information to the state's system, but the State Bureau of Elections was not at fault, he said.

Two candidates with no party affiliation also were missing from the sample ballots, he said.

Roebuck became aware of the omission on Wednesday, Oct. 31, and missing candidates were added within an hour of his notifying the Secretary of State.

"This is certainly a frustrating oversight on our part. And I've spoken personally tonight with each of the candidates affected as well to let them know our regrets, and that this was a completely unintentional error," he said in an email.